Antonio María Esquivel Biography | Oil Painting Reproductions

3-8-1806 Seville, ESP - 4-9-1857 Madrid, ESP

Antonio María Esquivel was a Spanish painter in the Romantic style who specialized in portraits. His father was a cavalry officer who was killed at the Battle of Bailén in 1808 when Antonio was two years old. He began his studies at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría in Seville. There, he became familiar with the pictorial techniques practiced by Bartolome Esteban Murillo.

In 1831, married and needing work, he moved to Madrid and enrolled at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, becoming a merit scholar. He was also involved in the intellectual life of Madrid and, in 1837, was an active participant in founding the local Artistic and Literary Lyceum, where he gave classes in anatomy, a subject that later he taught at the Academy.

Antonio María Esquivel returned to Seville in 1839, suffering from a pink eye illness that left him nearly blind. Depressed and discouraged, he tried to commit suicide by jumping into the Guadalquivir River. Afterward, his companions and associates at the Lyceum took up a collection that would enable him to receive treatment from a celebrated ophthalmologist in France. Thanks to their support, by the end of 1840 he had recovered his vision.

His official recognition's include the Commander's Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. In 1843, he was named Court painter and, in 1847, a Professor at the San Fernando Academy. He was a founding member of the "Society for the Protection of the Fine Arts".